Moira MacQuaide’s history of Burpham

The early years of the 20th century brought motor cars to the roads, necessitating changes in the maintenance of road surfaces and the need to provide petrol filling stations along the way. The first mention of a petrol station in Burpham was in Kelly’s Directory in 1927, when the Super Service Stations Ltd, Petrol Filling Station was located on the corner plot between London Road the the bottom of New Inn Lane.

Prior to that, the land was part of Winterhill Farm and probably part of Guildford Fruit Farm, owned by H Lancelot Robson in the early 1900s. In 1938 the petrol station was called Marris (Surrey) Ltd, but in 1941 it returned to be Super Service Station Ltd.

An advert in the Surrey Advertiser gave the address for Pantiles Service Garage (Super Service Station) as Portsmouth Road, Burpham, and the telephone number was Guildford 623. It was called Pantiles because of the pantiled roof. Then in 1944 the name changed again to Pantiles Service Garage or Service Station. In the 1960s there was a motor car dealer on the site, alongside the filling station and adverts appeared in the local press with cars available to buy.

In 1956 there was uproar at a Burpham village meeting about a proposal to sell part of the new Sutherland Memorial Park for use as a petrol station, amid claims that the management committee had been high-handed and secretive. This did not go ahead. In 1963 a case went to the Magistrates Court for a young man who was alleged to have driven at 40mph into the service station from Portsmouth Road, and then straight out into the traffic, causing other vehicles to brake. However, the magistrates dismissed the case, saying that the whole thing had been exaggerated.

The photo of Pantiles Garage in 1953, from Norman Hamilton’s History of Burpham, shows bunting decorating the building in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation that year. It also shows the clock tower at the front of the site. However, later photos of the garage don’t have the clock tower – so what happened to it? Is it sitting in someone’s garden somewhere? Was it destroyed during the development of the site? It would be lovely to have it returned to Burpham for the community.

In the 1980s the petrol station was taken over by Mobil, but now it is a BP garage, including a Londis local grocery shop and car washing facilities.

In the mid-1980s Sainsbury’s opened their superstore in Burpham, but were denied the addition of a petrol station on site. However, by the late 1990s, this was overturned, despite local opposition. Over the years Sainsbury’s has brought positive results to the community, but it has affected local small businesses.

In 2025, although most people refer to it as the BP petrol station, it is still known as Pantiles Service Station when searching on Google.

If you are willing to share your memories and/or photos to tell us more about Burpham then please contact Moira MacQuaide, either by e-mail (moira.macquaide@gmail.com) or by phone or text (07963 756543). My book, Burpham – A Gateway to Guildford is still available from me for £10 (free delivery locally) or on Amazon, but the History of Burpham Primary School 1908-2014 is now out of print (available to borrow at Guildford Library).